The provision of public health care encompasses many things, including:

* Monitoring the overall health of our population. This includes monitoring the health of underserved and at-risk subpopulations.

* Identifying health hazards and problems that may affect the public. Again, this includes issues that may disproportionately affect subsets of the population. In order to do this, it is necessary to conduct biomedical, clinical and epidemiological research.

* Educating, informing and empowering the population about health issues.

* Bridging the gap between the health needs of the population (including vulnerable and underserved people) and the provision of care. This is often accomplished by partnering with communities and other organizations. This also includes assuring the competency of the health care force.

* Developing policies and regulations to help support all the goals noted above, and then enforcing them.

* Evaluating the effectiveness of the health services and the health care system in general. This evaluation will help inform areas that may need more focus.

The mission of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) is to protect, promote and advance the health and safety of our nation. Many aspects of public health are supported by the USPHS.

I want to dedicate today’s column to the 6,000-plus men and women who comprise the USPHS. This uniformed service, overseen by the U.S. surgeon general, was founded more than 200 years ago; the roots of it go back to 1798 when President John Adams signed the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.

From my columns over the years, many readers know that I intermittently work for the U.S. government as a member of MA1 DMAT (Massachusetts Disaster Medical Assist Team) responding to disasters. This has included columns I have written about the work our team did responding to the earthquake in Haiti, to Superstorm Sandy and to many other disasters.

I am privileged to have recently been deployed alongside members of the USPHS to help provide medical care, medical screening and immunizations to unaccompanied minors from other countries who have entered the U.S. It is an absolute pleasure to be able to work side by side with these dedicated professionals. We are not involved in any of the politics; our mission and our sole priority is the health and welfare of these children.

Just like I have my “real job” but am occasionally deployed to help out by providing medical care in response to unmet medical needs created by a disaster or some other situation, the people who comprise the USPHS have “day jobs,” working for the Department of Health and Human Services at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health or the Indian Health Service, or possibly working in some non-HHS role. However, when there is a need, this group of highly qualified public health professionals is deployed to wherever they are needed.

Page 2 of 2 - Going into the field to provide medical care is always challenging. Each situation is different, and the medical needs of the people we need to care for are very variable and, at times, quite complex. There is always a great deal of creativity needed to figure out the best way to utilize the available resources to provide the best care possible. I usually tell people that our DMAT “provides sophisticated medical care even under austere conditions.”

Our present mission, providing medical care to these unaccompanied children, is not without precedent. For example, the USPHS provided medical care and medical screening for immigrants coming through Ellis Island in the early 20th century.

Despite everything these kids have been through, including illegally entering a foreign country unaccompanied by an adult, they show amazing spirit and resilience. After meeting and interacting with them, it is impossible not to have empathy for what they have been through, yet acknowledge that despite everything they are just kids anxious to be reunited with their families.